Publications

In July 2007, I Tatti commissioned a scholarly catalogue of the European Paintings in the Berenson Collection from Carl Brandon Strehlke (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and Machtelt Brüggen Israëls (University of Amsterdam). Work on this project has now entered the final publication phase, after several years devoted to the first-hand study of the paintings at I Tatti and companion pieces found throughout the world and extensive research in archives, libraries, and photograph collections at I Tatti and elsewhere. The catalogue includes 149 entries, written by a team of nearly forty international scholars. There are also two introductory essays, one on the Berensons’ collecting and the other on their relationship to Sienese art, a major part of the collection. There are also essays on photography of the collection, counterfeits, Roger Fry, and René Piot.
While preparing the catalogue, Strehlke and Israëls examined all the paintings in the collection and worked closely with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the Italian State center for the conservation of art, based in Florence. These examinations provided the basis for detailed technical reports. The Opificio also set up a temporary X-radiographic laboratory and conducted infrared reflectography on site. The surfaces of many pictures have been cleaned by Roberto Bellucci of the Opificio and re-photographed both by him and Centrica, a Florentine firm specializing in digital imagery.
Research on the collection has shown that it is not simply a gathering of pictures of two talented and dogged collectors, but a reflection of the intellectual interests of Bernard and Mary Berenson at a time when they were making their mark on the world as connoisseurs and art historians (ca. 1890-1910). The relation of the collection to the art historical world at the time can be seen in the extensive correspondence from their friends, family and colleagues at I Tatti, as well as the couples’ diaries, notations on the backs of photographs, and most importantly, their early publications. The collection appears to have been formed in part for decorating their new house, but in step with the Berensons’ scholarly concerns. It is a remarkable window into the early development of connoisseurship and its importance in the development of twentieth-century art history and criticism. Each entry places the object in the context of the intellectual world of the Berensons.The catalogue is in sum a cultural history of the early history of art history from the Berensonian standpoint.

The era of the Scientific Revolution has long been epitomized by Galileo. Yet many women were at its vanguard, deeply invested in empirical culture. They experimented with medicine and practical alchemy at home, at court, and through collaborative networks of practitioners. In academies, salons, and correspondence, they debated cosmological discoveries; in their literary production, they used their knowledge of natural philosophy to argue for their intellectual equality to men.
Meredith Ray restores the work of these women to our understanding of early modern scientific culture. Her study begins with Caterina Sforza’s alchemical recipes; examines the sixteenth-century vogue for “books of secrets”; and looks at narratives of science in works by Moderata Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella. It concludes with Camilla Erculiani’s letters on natural philosophy and, finally, Margherita Sarrocchi’s defense of Galileo’s “Medicean” stars.
Combining literary and cultural analysis, Daughters of Alchemy contributes to the emerging scholarship on the variegated nature of scientific practice in the early modern era. Drawing on a range of under-studied material including new analyses of the Sarrocchi–Galileo correspondence and a previously unavailable manuscript of Sforza’s Experimenti, Ray’s book rethinks early modern science, properly reintroducing the integral and essential work of women.

The Medici controlled fifteenth-century Florence. Other Italian rulers treated Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492) as an equal. To his close associates he was "the boss" ("master of the workshop"). But Lorenzo liked to say he was just another Florentine citizen. Were the Medici like the kings, princes and despots of contemporary Italy? Or were they just powerful citizens? This book takes a novel, comparative approach. It sets Medici rule against princely states such as Milan and Ferrara. It asks how much the Medici changed Florence and contrasts their supremacy with earlier Florentine regimes. The contributors take diverse angles, focusing on politics, political thought, social history, economic policy, religion, the church, humanism, intellectual history, Italian literature, theater, festivals, music, imagery, iconography, architecture, historiography, and marriage. This book is perfect for students of History, Renaissance Studies, Italian Literature, Art History or anyone keen to learn about one of history's most colorful, influential and puzzling families

This comprehensive, interdisciplinary monograph will deal with many aspects of the San Lorenzo basilica, extending from its foundation as Florence’s palaeochristian cathedral to the modern era. Florence's Basilica di San Lorenzo, the city’s first cathedral and the center of liturgical patronage of the Medici and their grand ducal successors from the late Trecento until the nineteenth century, is one of the most frequently studied churches in Florence. Modern studies have tended, however, to focus on limited and specific aspects of the complex, and the lion’s share of research published since the nineteenth century deals with the period from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo, or from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo I. The San Lorenzo project has already produced a conference, held at I Tatti on 27-30 May 2009, and a series of sessions at the 2010 annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America. Energies are now focused on the monograph, with chapters that address a broad range of questions. These include the urban setting of the churches and the parish, San Lorenzo's relations with other ecclesiastical institutions, the individual buildings, the clergy, chapels and altars, the chapter's administration and financial structure, liturgical furnishings, music, liturgy, preaching, the demographics of parish life, and the annual or ephemeral festal practices on the site. Each chapter will offer an extensive exploration of its topic, wide-ranging in its historical scope and wherever possible dealing not merely with brief moments of history but with the longue durée. Each will include new research, the publication of relevant documents, and a careful critical assessment of the historiography.

Introduction: the tales madness tells -- Incapacity, guardianship, and the Tuscan family -- "Madness is punishment enough": the insanity defense -- Spending without measure: madness, money, and the marketplace -- From madness to sickness -- The curious case of forensic medicine: the dog that didn't bark in the night -- Conclusion.

"The core of this book is the catalogue of the Italian sources of Dürer's artwork; the chronological organization of the entries helps to trace a new image of Dürer as both a theorist of art and science, and a master engraver and painter, with results that substantially change our vision of his relationship with Italy. The volume also offers a first analytical index of Dürer's treatises kept in the Italian libraries"--Provided by publisher.